USC fires Clay Helton
https://twitter.com/USC_mikebohn/status/1437524310348886018
First bit of news from the coaching carousel is a big one. Interim coach is DB coach Donte Williams, the lead recruiter for 5 star DB Domani Jackson and the main reason Jackson committed to USC. Williams' secondaries have underperformed since being at USC, so interesting decision to promote him.
How the rest of the season goes for Williams/USC will have a huge impact on Michigan's ability to flip Jackson.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
So we have our answer in the annual “who gets fired first” sweepstakes.
Didn’t happen on a runway, but this is impressively fast even for USC.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:38 PM ^
I think they've had this loaded in the chamber since last year and figured they might as well get started with a search. The funny thing will be if they wind up swinging and missing on some options because it's real difficult to interview active coaches during the season so they'll just be competing with everyone else in the end anyway.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:40 PM ^
Then why not pull the trigger when u load? This should have happened last year.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:43 PM ^
agreed. there's nothing in the 1st 1-2 games that tell you any more than what you knew on 1/1/21. Unless the coach lost the team or there were off the field issues of course.
just a complete waste of the last 10 months for the USC program.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:15 PM ^
....and what did Warde say?
September 13th, 2021 at 10:21 PM ^
that he TOTALLY DIDN'T apologize to chris webber
September 13th, 2021 at 5:55 PM ^
Where do I place my bet that Urban ends up there next season? I don’t even need odds.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:04 PM ^
Especially with the rumors flying out of Jacksonville that he's already lost his team and half the coaches hate him.
September 13th, 2021 at 7:03 PM ^
Please elaborate a wee bit BluCheese. What rumors? Wouldn’t be shocked if he moved to SC next year at all.
September 13th, 2021 at 7:31 PM ^
Just Google “urban Meyer unhinged”
https://nypost.com/2021/09/12/urban-meyer-era-already-turbulent-even-before-jaguars-loss/
September 13th, 2021 at 9:56 PM ^
After reading this article about not being able to handle losing at all, even pre-season, it sounds like he might be Belien’d out of town.
That being said….why did he take the Jags job? What did he expect? The NFL to be easy? He will Saban his way back somewhere or be in a broadcasting booth again next year.
I feel he needs to feel like he’s walking into the perfect situation to win big and often, early. Not sure what BGSU or Utah were like when he came (although the conferences were easy), but Florida had a stable of outstanding Zook recruits with Chris Leak at QB, OSU had a similar stable of Tressel recruits with Taylor-made QB Braxton Miller for his offense…maybe he thought getting Trevor Lawrence would translate into quick NFL success? Is he that dumb? Did he just want to really challenge himself? Also, does USC have the players he wants from the get-go? If they don’t, who does? FSU? Texas?
For such a d-bag as Meyer is, he’s kind of a fascinating human psychological study. He probably has NPD (narcissistic personality disorder), and can’t stand when he is not in full control of everything and everyone around him.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:33 PM ^
Probably doesn't even finish the season in Jacksonville. Can't blame him if he does bounce, SC is a better gig than that dumpster fire.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:56 PM ^
Is this a real thing? Meyer leaving so soon ?
September 13th, 2021 at 7:29 PM ^
There have been some articles about Meyer being a college coach whose style hasn't translated that well to the pro's with both the coaching staff and players. The gist is if Meyer was (or is) winning, the pro's might put up with it a little bit more but since things do not look good, it's only a matter of time before he may lose the team.
September 13th, 2021 at 9:19 PM ^
Nope. Day moves west. Meyer returns to Columbus.
September 14th, 2021 at 1:24 AM ^
Hmmm. That is actually and interesting idea.
September 13th, 2021 at 7:57 PM ^
Good point, but they had to fire him now if they wanted to hold any fan/booster interest the rest of the season. They were obviously not improving with Helton and after whatever that was against Stanford the fanbase was understandably pretty disgusted.
September 13th, 2021 at 9:33 PM ^
Isn't the answer Randy Edsall (full disclosure, Edsall was my personal prediction in that thread a few weeks ago)?
After their loss to Holy Cross the Saturday before Labor Day, Edsall decided he was going to step down at the end of the season, but then a couple days later "he and the school came to a mutual decision" that he would quit coaching immediately.
It's semantics, but that sounded like a firing to me.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
I don't follow USC at all, but they're 1-1 with 3 relatively easy games coming up. Does this seem a bit precipitous? Or maybe some revelation is about to come to light? I mean, they kinda got got by Stanford, but still.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
Most USC fans wanted Helton gone years ago. Getting blown out at home by a Stanford team that lost the previous game to KSU 24-7 was the last straw.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
Exactly.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^
The revelation is they suck. They struggled against SJSU and got whooped at home by Stanford as a double digit favorite.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:44 PM ^
Well to SJSU's credit and defense, they do have Will Hart as their punter. So, there's that.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:17 PM ^
Now THIS =guy is a transfer player we can all root for!
September 13th, 2021 at 6:45 PM ^
Great Computer Engineering program at SJSU
September 13th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
Single most unqualified coach for his gig in college sports for years now. This was so overdue.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:36 PM ^
Scott Frost says hold my corn
September 13th, 2021 at 6:19 PM ^
Lane Kiffin says hold my cheerleader.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:35 PM ^
So if you combine those two, you have a cheerleader in one hand and a cob of corn in the other.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:45 PM ^
I mean, that’s not exactly a bad situation to find yourself in
September 13th, 2021 at 6:40 PM ^
Scott says hold my Mom.
September 14th, 2021 at 12:24 AM ^
Stanford at home was supposed to be at least as easy the next 3.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:27 PM ^
I'm sure there were bets placed in Vagas. Someone out there is very happy right now, and it isn't Helton.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
Domani Jackson?
September 13th, 2021 at 5:33 PM ^
5* corner commit to USC that we are recruiting HARD. He's best friends with our 5* CB croot named Will Johnson. The hope is that the Stanford loss, and our win, will help persuade him to flip.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:46 PM ^
The issue now becomes who’s next at usc? Someone that can convince him to be apart of their rebuild?
i actually see this firing as bad for us. I think he’ll wait it out and see who they hire before doing anything. It would be much easier to convince him to flip if Helton went 6-6 and stayed at usc. We just need to win 10+ games to make him realize we’re a much more stable program and last year was a fluke.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:09 PM ^
I don't buy that. There's no way to know that he'll "wait it out", plenty of recruits decommit from a school after a coach is fired and then make a decision before waiting to see what the school does next. And even if he does want to wait it out, it's a lot more logical to wait it out as an uncommitted prospect that's looking at all his options, than as a USC commit who may hate the next hire and be out of a spot at the next choice school because he waited for USC to hire someone.
At the end of the day, on the field performance is going to play a factor in Domani's decision, both at USC and Michigan. Helton was never going to be kept after a 6-6 season (clearly since he got fired after the first loss). If USC struggled on the field, Helton was gone. If USC did well, then Helton was gonna stay. Helton getting fired shakes up the status quo and brings an air of uncertainty over USC now, and also puts the job prospects of his primary recruiter Donte Williams in the air. Anything that pushes Domani further towards "uncommitted prospect" territory helps Michigan.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:21 PM ^
He's a 5 star... there's always a spot for that anywhere.
September 13th, 2021 at 8:48 PM ^
Domani Jackson would sure make a great Slot DB. He's got the excellent recovery speed for it. And the football smarts.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:41 PM ^
I hope someone can convince him to be apart of the USC rebuild and a part of UM's recruiting class.
September 14th, 2021 at 1:49 AM ^
A cunning linguist you are.
September 13th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
September 13th, 2021 at 5:29 PM ^
Is Domani Jackson looking at UCLA or Oregon?
Seems those 2 could end up benefiting here as well given USC’s generally strong recruiting of west coast prospects.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:30 PM ^
Don't think so but not sure. OSU had a lot of buzz last summer, and I think Texas did at one point as well. I think the main contenders right now are USC, Michigan and Bama.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:02 PM ^
I thought I heard he loved Michigan growing up but last year And the ensuing instability perception lead him to commit to USC. I could be wrong though. I think his dads a big Michigan fan too.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
That's true about him and his dad, but we've heard that with so many recruits and it never plays that big a role. Plus his mom was an OSU fan.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:13 PM ^
Yes. His dads from Youngstown and huge Michigan fan.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:50 PM ^
Oregon is a threat I think as Cristobal and his staff recruit their butts off, but I think Michigan has some advantages over them there.
UCLA won't be a threat at all, that would require Kelly putting effort into recruiting someone who isn't a transfer and going from USC commit to UCLA player is seemingly a yearly occurrence, but it almost never happens with a recruit of Jackson's stature.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^
Calling Urban Meyer… he can do a Bobby Petrino.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:02 PM ^
Don’t forget Saban pulled it too.